


a friend given by nature

by redhoodedwolf



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Laura Hale, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, Derek and Laura are 3 years apart, Everyone is overage, Hale Family Feels, Laura and Derek are best bros and she helps him, Laura is an actually nice person, M/M, hale fire still happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-04-30 18:43:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5175392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redhoodedwolf/pseuds/redhoodedwolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek’s favorite person has always been Laura.<br/>Growing up, there was only a three year age difference between them, so they were still pretty close as most siblings were concerned. But because they weren’t that close in age, Derek saw her as someone he looked up to as well. By the time he was starting kindergarten, she was in third grade with all of the other 8 year-olds, and Derek thought that was the coolest thing ever, being in a real class, with a real numbered grade name, and learning real things like how to read and do math with numbers.<br/>As the eldest Hale child, Laura was destined before she’d even been given a name to be the next Hale alpha. She was brought up with this thought in mind, and she shadowed Talia often. She never stated any dislike over being the chosen one to inherit this power and responsibility, but that was mostly because she didn’t have any dislike for anything or anyone. Also because she didn’t like to state much at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a friend given by nature

**Author's Note:**

> So I and many others have been annoyed by how Laura is portrayed in many fics so I wanted to have a different take on her in this fic and explore her relationship with Derek more. I hope y'all enjoy it!  
> Title from this quote: "A brother is a friend given by Nature." - Jean Baptiste Legouve

 

            Derek’s favorite person has always been Laura.

           Growing up, there was only a three year age difference between them, so they were still pretty close as most siblings were concerned. But because they weren’t _that_ close in age, Derek saw her as someone he looked up to as well. By the time he was starting kindergarten, she was in third grade with all of the other 8 year-olds, and Derek thought that was the coolest thing ever, being in a real class, with a real numbered grade name, and learning real things like how to read and do math with numbers. 

            As the eldest Hale child, Laura was destined before she’d even been given a name to be the next Hale alpha. She was brought up with this thought in mind, and she shadowed Talia often. She never stated any dislike over being the chosen one to inherit this power and responsibility, but that was mostly because she didn’t have any dislike for anything or anyone. Also because she didn’t like to state much at all.

            She wasn’t the most talkative child. She was one of those babies who were late to speak because she didn’t want to say anything until she could form full sentences. According to Talia’s baby book, Laura’s first words were, “Can I have apple juice instead, mama?” 

            When Derek was growing up, he was very talkative. He would babble to his mother about anything and everything, and would talk his Uncle Peter’s ear off, but his favorite person to tell things to was Laura. Laura always paid attention to him, unlike Uncle Peter, when he talked about his favorite new TV show, and would only interject to ask questions that spurred Derek in another direction. She was the family member most receptive to his tangents.

            As he grew older, Derek fell away from his over-talking phase, but took naturally to friends. He talked less to Uncle Peter, less to his mother, but always took time out of his day to sit down with Laura and chat with her.

            Laura didn’t appear to have many friends, but she was okay with it. She enjoyed spending time with her family and ending her weeks curled up in the living room with a book on any subject that currently struck her fancy. That wasn’t to say that she didn’t get along with her fellow classmates; she did. She got along with all of them. Even the kids who were insecure or bullies let her be. She gave everyone the same level of respect. She got invited to all of the girls’ and even some of the boys’ birthday parties. She always went, spent some time with them, gave them a thoughtful gift and artfully crafted card, and always left early. She wasn’t a fan of sleepovers; she didn’t like being away from her pack overnight. 

            As Laura moved into her teenage years, she hit the puberty wall and burst through it, more beautiful and confident in her powers than ever. Talia started her alpha training, and many of the books Laura was found curled up with were of family history or pack treaties. She once spent an entire month learning about pack-hunter relations. 

            Once in high school, she began to gather more attention from her male classmates. Other than acquaintanceship, she never noticed any of them back. In Laura’s mind, it was better to save relationships for later, during or maybe not until after college, when she felt more mature and ready to have a partner at her side while also continuing her training to be the next Hale alpha. 

            Derek didn’t follow her same train of thought. He was the little boy every girl in the class had a crush on. He left a trail of broken hearts as he moved up from middle school into high school. He joined the basketball team and flirted with anyone who spared him a second glance, including his own teammates. Derek didn’t have as much confidence in himself as Laura did, but he fell out of puberty with a spring in his step. 

            Laura was the one person he talked to about everything. The rest of his family knew generally about his life, but unless they eavesdropped (and Peter was the only one who ever dared to invade privacy like that), they never heard about the one boy Derek had kissed at a party the previous weekend and when he’d approached the boy at school the kid said he was so drunk he didn’t remember anything. Or about the teacher who told Derek that if he kept his grades up, he would undoubtedly be graduating with honors. Or that a girl named Paige stood up to him when he and his friends were being jerks, bouncing a basketball in the hallway, and Derek felt a pull towards her, what did that mean? 

            Obviously Peter had listened in on that one, being the catalyst for that large fallout. 

            After Laura graduated high school, she chose to live at home and go to the community college for the first few years before transferring to a full-time 4-year university. Laura was 20, finishing up with her second year of schooling, when the Hale fire occurred.

            Her life became chaos. After feeling the alpha powers take her over, she had zero time to come to terms with it before she and Derek were rushed to the station, shock blankets covering their shoulders. They took their statements, and Laura was asked if she would be willing to take legal guardianship over Derek until he turned 18 later that year, since their uncle would likely never recover from his wounds. Laura did more taking that day than she had in the last month, and it was more talking than she thought she would ever be able to give on such an occasion. 

            Derek sat silently, a smudge of ash across his cheek from when he’d tried to run back into the house and a firefighter caught him on his way out of the flames, stopping him from succeeding. Derek had been quiet for a while, the previous few weeks, and though she would never blame her brother, Laura knew his silence had something to do with the reason behind their recent lack of communication. 

            As soon as they were both allowed to stop talking, stop repeating their story, stop filling out forms, they didn’t speak for a solid month. Laura had been planning to continue her studies at NYU, so once Derek finished his year, barely, she took him away to New York for a change of pace, leaving Peter to sit silently, catatonic, in his hospital room. 

            Derek finished out his high school career near the NYU campus where they shared an apartment. He knew no one there, cared little about his classes, and barely scraped through to receive his diploma. Laura wanted to get him to talk to her like they used to, but she knew nothing would ever be like it used to be. 

            So she did what she knew to do, and that was be his alpha. She made sure they went out and took a nightly walk for hours on the full moon. Once a week, she dragged Derek to a gym so they could work on keeping their strength in check. Derek grew accustomed to the gym after half a year and chose to go more often on his own, and Laura counted that as the first step to healing. 

            Laura kept her head down around campus. There were more werewolves in New York than Beacon Hills, obviously, and she never wanted to run into them. The head werewolf pack in the New York City area had granted them permission to reside there for as long as they needed, but she definitely didn't want to have to force the alpha to take back her kindness because she had a confrontation with some other pack’s beta. 

            Slowly, over the next few years, they began to heal. Laura, to her surprise, seemed to revert back to her old self within the year. Derek continued to stay brooding and silent, but she noticed small things about him that started to creep back in. The one day when she returned from classes, she found him sitting in the living room and upon seeing her, immediately told her about the funny thing that had happened at the gym earlier that day. Laura had to stifle her tears so as to not scare Derek when she saw him smile for the first time since he was 17. 

            Derek never opened up to her about what happened with the fire, and Laura never pushed. 

            After graduating from NYU, Laura started work with a construction company that was not as often used in the city, but well known enough for her to be bringing in enough money so she and Derek could stop relying on the insurance money. They both were relieved to not have to touch that money for the time being. 

            Laura was surprised that Derek had approached her, a few months after his graduation, and asked about going to college. He wouldn’t be able to get into a great university, because of his grades. But his SAT and ACT scores were high, so Derek was able to join a small college outside of the city starting during their spring semester. He studied linguistics; he’d always had a fascination for different languages. 

            Unfortunately, Derek never got a chance to finish his degree when Laura, at age 26, told him that she had to go back to Beacon Hills. She’d promised him that she would be back within the month, but Derek was skeptical. The idea of her leaving left a bad taste in his mouth and, not even a few hours after Laura’s plane departed, he was buying his own ticket back home. And he was relieved he did.

            The hospital never called to tell them Peter was improving. And he obviously had, considering he was well enough to be trying to murder Laura. Derek, with enough guilt on his conscience already, stopped him before he could succeed, tearing his claws across the man’s throat. Laura stayed conscious long enough to give him a weak smile before she passed out. Peter had put her through the wringer enough before Derek found them, but she would survive. But first, Derek had to make sure he wouldn’t be found as the murderer of his uncle.

            Rushing back to the hotel, Derek changed into clean clothes, shredded and threw his stained and bloodied ones away in a dumpster halfway across town, before racing back to the scene of the crime. He called the police as soon as he arrived and put on his best act, shouting about how his uncle was dead and sister unconscious, how they appeared to have been attacked by some kind of animal, to hurry _please_. 

            Maybe some deity finally allowed Derek to have some luck in his life, because they believed him. Laura’s part of the story, once she woke up, only solidified his innocence. Peter had coaxed Laura into the woods with the guise of wanting to talk. He had then turned on her, demanding that she give him the rights to the Hale accounts (the alpha power) and all of their money. Before either of them could do anything, a mountain lion had appeared and attacked. They went for Laura first, but when Peter distracted it by trying to escape, it went in for the kill. When Derek finally came across the gruesome scene while trying to figure out where his sister had gone, he’d called the police first.

            The sheriff clapped his shoulder with a broad hand and gave him a smile. Derek held onto Laura’s hand as she sat in one of the hospital beds, doing her best to hold back the healing process. “You’re good kids,” was all he said, but it left both of them feeling remarkably better.

            Though Derek felt guilty for having killed his uncle, it was justified. Laura continued to remind him of this every time she spotted a frown begin to tug at his lips. 

            Being back home in Beacon Hills brought out the alpha instinct in Laura. She missed home and wanted her own territory to protect her pack in. On their last day in Beacon Hills, the both of them having initially planned on flying back to the city the next morning, Laura made her decision known. 

            “I’m staying here,” she told Derek. “I want you to go back, finish your education. Then come home. I’ll take care of everything,” ‘Everything’ meaning the charred remains of their house. “You just come back to me safe and sound, okay?”

            Laura never looked more like their mother than in that moment.

            “Okay,” Derek promised. “But Laura?”

            “Yes?”

            “I wanna talk to you about Kate Argent.”

*

            It took Derek almost two years before he was able to permanently return back to Beacon Hills. Some of that was him being apprehensive, some of it was because he needed the extra time to finish schoolwork. Because of his unscheduled break to Beacon Hills, he hadn’t gotten back home in time for the next spring semester, so he had an entire extra semester to make up. 

            Derek was the one to pack up all of Laura’s things and ship them to Beacon Hills for her. She had become much too busy to take a trip back up to do it herself, and Derek was more than capable. It was hard, not having his alpha and older sister around, but he called her at least once a week, and texted most days little updates about what they were doing or if something interesting had come up. 

            Laura had formed a bond, it seemed, with the sheriff. Derek had been concerned at first, knowing the man was a widower, but Laura had assured him that a relationship was the last thing on her mind, plus the man was still working on his grief. That settled Derek some. 

            The sheriff had been the one who believed Laura (and Derek via skype after he’d returned to New York) about Kate Argent and her being at fault for the Hale fire. Derek had flown back for the trial, but after having built up so much evidence up against her, Kate was immediately convicted. Derek had flown back to school with a lighter heart. Laura went out of her way often to do everything possible to thank the sheriff for believing them when all hope was against them and opening up an investigation. 

            Laura sent him pictures of the progress on the house. Until it was built, she moved out of the temporary hotel room and into a tiny apartment downtown. She said the place felt nothing like home, but it  _was_ only temporary. Once the house was complete half a year later, she immediately moved in. 

            Laura hadn’t been able to come up for Derek’s graduation, but he wasn’t bothered by it. He did get a little bothered when Laura had suggested that now because he was finished it was the right time to move back. He somewhat agreed, it was just that... Derek wasn’t ready. 

            So he told Laura he would make his way there, but on his own time. Laura didn’t even argue, because she knew that was how to best handle Derek and to not push him to make decisions he didn’t want to. Sometimes she had to bring out the kid gloves, but she loved her brother too much to throw him into the deep end of the adult swimming pool too soon. He’d lost a lot of his chances to be a real teenager and college student, and though that’s not what he wants now, before the fire he would have had that. So Laura said okay.

            Derek moved slowly, but he did move. He started by looking for jobs in the Beacon Hills area, and until he had a few interviews set up he didn’t move on to the next task of talking to the landlady and giving her a two-months notice. Packing up and moving wasn’t tedious to Derek, but all of the paper work was. Because he hadn’t been 18 yet at the time of the fire, Laura was the one to fill out all of the paperwork, but the reminder of all of those signed dotted lines still agitated him. 

            At the end, it took him almost half a year to make it back to Beacon Hills. Laura welcomed him home from the long flight with open arms and a fresh plate of his favorite cookies. 

*

            The first full day Derek is back in Beacon Hills, Laura tells him to stop by the sheriff’s station and say hello to the man. Derek grumbles, but does what his sister suggests. He does owe the man, it's the least he can do.

            As he enters the station, he stalls when he notices the person at the front desk is not a deputy, or at least they aren’t in uniform. It’s a skinny-limbed guy with a buzz cut; plaid hides some kind of graphic tee and fitted denim hugs his thighs as he lays on his back on top of the desk. He has headphones in his ears and his foot is tapping to the beat of a song that irritates Derek’s ears, so he tries his best to tune it out.

            “What are you doing?” Derek growls, and the kid flails off of the desk and hits the floor in surprise. Derek winces slightly. He probably could have been a little bit nicer about it. 

            The guy jumps back onto his feet and pretends to sweep imaginary dust off of his shoulders. Derek glares. “What are you doing?” he repeats.

            “Manning the front desk for my dad. Kara had to pick up her niece, some kind of emergency, so he asked me to wait here and direct people where they need to go, since I know everything I need to for this job. I’m just not allowed to answer the phone.” His eyes squint for a second, but then widen. “Holy shit, you’re Derek Hale.”

            Derek immediately goes defensive. “How do you know that?”

            “Relax.” The kids holds up his hands in surrender. “I’m Stiles. Stilinski. Sheriff Stilinski’s son? He’s mentioned you and your sister couple times, you look like her, and I’ve seen you in photos from the old basketball team in the hallways at the high school. Are you here to see him?”

            Derek tries not to show too obviously how unbalanced he is by this boy’s subject changes. Finally, a moment too late just to make the kid squirm, he replies, “Yes.” His eyes sweep the form of this young man and his throat goes slightly dry at the random thought of licking his moles.

            Stiles sweeps a hand out to the doorway that leads into the main part of the station. “Go on back, he’s not too busy right now.”

            Derek gives him a nod of thanks before disappearing around the corner. As soon as Stiles isn’t in his sights, he hears the kid sigh in relief and jump back up onto the counter. “Fuck, he grew up good.” Derek tries to tame his flushed cheeks before he talks to the kid’s father and lets him know about his arrival back home.

            “I’m glad to see you’re doing well,” the sheriff tells him with a fatherly smile part of the way through their conversation, and Derek tries his best not to think about his description choice right now. 

            Derek passes by the front desk as he leaves, keeping his eyes forward, and does his best to ignore Stiles’ eyes on his ass. He mostly succeeds.

            Derek shakes the feeling off as soon as he’s outside. Stiles looks about 17, Derek cannot and will not be having thoughts of a suggestive nature while the kid is underage. 

            When Derek gets home, he collapses onto the couch and stares at the blank television, mind trying to process the last 45 minutes.

            “Anything you want to talk about?” Laura’s soft voice asks as she exits the kitchen, handing him a plate of pizza, and he gives her a thankful smile. 

            “Not... yeah,” Derek breathes. “I mean, I’ve already thought it over. But Stiles, the sheriff’s son? He’s obviously interested in me. I ran into him at the station. And... he’s cute, Laura, and were I still in high school I wouldn’t even falter. But he’s underage, and I’m _25_.”

            “He’s 18, Derek,” Laura confesses, and that has Derek sitting up to attention. “But I’m really glad you were hesitant. And you still should be. You of all people know that 18 is still young.” They both wince, and Laura wraps an arm around his shoulders to comfort him. “But you’re not her. If you have actual interest in Stiles, you should start out as friends. He’s a good guy and I do think you’d get along. 

            “You don’t think it would be awkward? With the sheriff?”

            Laura shakes her head. “Derek, you missed out on being young. I think it’s time you started to let yourself have things, like friends. And if Stiles seems like someone you’d like to spend time with, then start with him.”

*

            Derek used to be good at making friends, he had tons of friends in high school. But since then, he really hasn’t spent time with anyone besides Laura. And as his older sister and alpha, she has always loved that and been eager to do the same, but she wants what’s best for him. 

            Laura will not push Derek to befriend Stiles, but she will nudge the boys into place.

            “I invited the sheriff and Stiles over for dinner tonight,” Laura springs on him, voice gentle, once Derek gets home from work that afternoon.

            He stares at her, jaw dropped. Laura rushes to fix the problem, saying, “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to push but this is a good step in getting to know people. I’ll cancel, I’ll tell them I’m not felling well--”

            “Laura, it’s fine,” Derek insists, trapping her twitching hands between his own. “I’m not mad, just surprised. I think it’s a great idea to have them over. Besides, there’s no way for me to really get to know Stiles without flat-out asking him on a date, which I’m not ready for. This is a really good idea, Laura, thank you.”

            Laura beams, alpha eyes flaring their bright red to show how pleased with herself she is. “Awesome, okay. I just started cooking. You’re okay with chicken fried rice, right? Stiles insisted it be something somewhat healthy for his father.”

            Derek chuckles. “Yeah, sounds good.” He kisses Laura’s cheek before heading up to his room to undress and put on something more comfortable but still nice enough for having guests over. 

            An hour and a half later finds the Sheriff and Stiles seating themselves at the kitchen table as Laura and Derek bring out the last of the food before taking their own seats. Derek sits directly across from Stiles and next to Laura, and he doesn’t miss the smile the younger man gives him, and he returns one in kind as best he can.

            “Dig in!” Laura declares, and they each oblige. Derek notices how Stiles is watching his father’s food intake from the corner of his eye. Conversation is light between them. Stiles talks about his impending graduation and when inquired where he would be attending school, he mentions a university only an hour away. He glances at his father at that, and Derek understands how he feels, nudging Laura’s foot underneath the table. 

            When they finish their meals, Derek stands to take care of the dishes, since Laura cooked, and the Sheriff nudges Stiles and states, “He’ll help.”

            Stiles glares at his father, but there is no heat in his gaze. “I guess I’m helping,” he grumbles, but his tone isn’t one of complaint. 

            He and Derek carry the dishes into the kitchen and set them by the sink. Derek glances up at him and says, “Thanks. You don’t have to help, though, you’re our guest.”

            Stiles shrugs and shoots him a smile. “It’s cool.” The younger man moves around Derek smoothly and begins grabbing plates to run under the sink. “I don’t mind. You and Laura are cool, and if my dad gives you the seal of approval then I have no problems.”

            Derek doesn’t quite follow Stiles’ train of thought but he nods anyway. “What are you looking to study?” he asks casually. “I forgot to ask.”

            “Not entirely sure yet,” Stiles admits. “I have a good number of options. But I’ll probably end up like my old man out there, become a deputy or something once I graduate college.”

            “You could always go into a research field, get some pre-training before the police academy,” Derek suggests. Stiles looks up at him, a smile tilting his lips. 

            “That’s what I’ve been leaning towards recently, actually,” he confesses, and Derek does his best to not blush at the sense of pride that fills him. “Do you--” Stiles cuts himself off, hesitating, before trying again, “On Friday, some friends of mine and I are going bowling. Do you maybe want to come?”

            Derek freezes at the thought, and Stiles seems to take this as a bad sign and begins to cover his tracks, “I mean, only if you want to. Though I’m sure you have other plans, but if you don’t, you won’t be the only adult there! I mean, no one there won‘t be, we’re all 18 at least, but what I mean is my friends, a couple of them are about your age, so--”

            “Stiles,” Derek cuts him off, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’d love to spend some time with you. And your friends. How many people do you think?”

            Stiles’ cheeks flush at Derek’s acceptance, and the feel of his warm hand encasing his shoulder. “Um, eight? Not including you and me. It’s Scott and Allison, who are always together. Then Lydia, Jackson, Isaac, and Kira. And Boyd and Erica are Isaac’s guardians but they are like 24? So not that much older than us. We like to do teams or pair up. You could be my partner! Y-you know, if you want.”

            Derek gives him a smile, hope fluttering in his chest. He hears Laura in the living room whisper under her breath, “You should say yes, Der.”

            Derek takes a deep breath. Laura is right. Maybe it is time he gave himself a chance to have fun and meet people and maybe, he thinks of Stiles, even have a crush. “I do. Want. I’ll be there,” he promises, and Stiles’ grin breaks his face.

            “Think they’re getting along in there alright?” Derek hears the Sheriff ask.

            Laura chuckles and replies, “I think they’re getting along really well.” 

 

**Author's Note:**

> There's more of this madness on my tumblr at redhoodedwolf


End file.
